When I was a little girl my childhood best friend had a blanket that she took everywhere.
She sucked the corners of that thing, snuggled it in the car, and dragged it around the playground.
I did not have a blanket, or anything else that I was particularly attached to, but I really, really wanted to be like my best friend. So I forced myself to carry a blanket with me all over the place.
This did not last long because, as a busy toddler, I was only passionate about things for approximately 3 minutes before moving on to the next more interesting thing.
Except for Saved By The Bell. That I faithfully stood by all the way through the college years.
But I couldn’t cuddle with Zack Morris at night.
Even though I never had a ‘great enduring love’ (well, until I met the hubs), it still fascinated me when I came across kids who had loveys that they needed to have with them every second of the day.
There’s just something so endearing about the way a little buddy calms down with his Blankie or Baba or Binkie or Lala or MooMoo or Fuzzy or whatever.
And since you always want for your kids what you never had, I made it my goal for the Happy Buddy to have a lovey.
I thought how excellent it would be for him to learn to self-soothe with something other than my boob.
So I picked out a small zebra that someone had given him as a gift when he was born and made sure it was in his crib starting Day 1 of his life and every night thereafter.
Unfortunately, the Happy Buddy never developed affections for ‘Zeebs’ the way I had hoped.
Instead he fell in love with pacifiers (which weren’t quite as endearing when he was still sucking on them as a 4 year old).
Now we’re dealing with the Happy Baby and his most recent lovey that doesn’t fit into any of your typical lovey categories.
This kid didn’t fall in love with a blankie or paci or small stuffed toy.
No, the Happy Baby fell in love with DVDs.
And DVD cases.
They go with him everywhere.
At the doctor’s office.
At the park.
At bedtime.
While napping.
In the car.
At The Learning Express.
At breakfast.
While watching Saturday morning cartoons.
Just hanging around.
At the mall toys.
He’s OBSESSED.
I guess I can’t complain, though, as this lovey does not require any late night panicked runs to Target for replacements.
And they are easily cleaned with a wipe.
And his Occupational Therapist is in support because they help his little fine motor skills with all that opening and closing of the case.
I guess my only reservation about this choice of lovey, other than that it is a little weird, is that the Happy Baby can’t pronounce DVD.
So he walks around all day talking about his ‘ED.’
🙂
Do you have any unusual lovey stories?
– Julie
My son loved his board books. He didn’t carry them around but he did insist on sleeping with them (clutched in his arms) and he would often wake up with binding creases across his chubby little cheeks. He also liked to carry around, open and close, chew on, and generally destroy DVD cases. He loved the sound it made when he would oh-so-gingerly tear the DVD from it’s holder before we figured out that he could, in fact, open the case with the child restraints.
Our baby loves Taggies. She comforts herself by sucking on the tags while cuddling the blanket part. It’s adorable! I had to buy a few, though, because they get pretty gross after a day or two and I was tired of washing it every other day!
tquints, we just got back from the beach and the HB took a DVD case with him and it is now full of sand and water. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!
Mine isn’t an unusual lovey story. My granddaughter who’s now 6 has a bear named Buddy. He is a State Farm bear that was given to my daughter by her agent when she was pregnant. Buddy is in every Christmas photo with Santa, he has a matching Halloween costume (made by Gramma). He has been re-stuffed more times than I can count. He is still her favorite, we don’t go anywhere without him, but my granddaughter leaves him in the car because we can’t take the chance he would get lost or stolen (like anyone would steal that ragged old bear…lol), to her he is the most valuable thing in the world.
Karyle, I love that you made a Halloween costume to match! You are precious!
My youngest daughter had an obsession with her “lellow” (yellow). Lellow was her pillow case which, starting in her crib, she would pull off of her pillow the minute she woke up. Lellow went EVERYWHERE with us and served lots of purposes. It would carry things, keep her warm, and sometimes she’d crawl inside it and disappear! But most importantly, she would run it on her cheek while nursing or on top of her nose while sucking her thumb! Do you think I could get that now 12yr old to pose with lellow again?!?
Tammy! A pillowcase?! I’m loving it.
That is hilarious! I burst out laughing from your story! Thanks for that giggle. It was fun to see the pictures of him with all his DVDs. I wish I had an interesting lovey story, but ours pales in uniqueness to yours. At about 4 months when my daughter was waking up every hour because her pacifier would fall out, we decided to put a stuffed-animal lamb in her crib that was big enough for her to find. The lamb’s tail became her pacifier and she sucked that thing thing–fur and all. That became her soother and we bought many of them because those nasty stuffed animals would stink from her sucking and had to be washed all the time. That’s one nice thing about loving on a DVD–no stink! But Lambie was there for her through the nights when she needed to suck, and Lambie never complained about being woken up. Sweet memories–now at 9, she sleeps with Lambie but doesn’t need his tail, and if Lambie isn’t around, she can cuddle just fine with another stuffed animal.
Caryn, I loved hearing about Lambie and I love that she still has it. Our kids are so funny!
One of my daughter’s favorite things was a rubber sink stopper on a small chain. She took it everywhere in her little hand. I have it put away in a box for someday when she has her own kids to return to her.
Shelley, you are too sweet to keep that rubber sink stopper! I love it! How funny!
Ha! This cracked me up! Our little one is crazy about DVD cases, too! We have a low shelf where we keep all of our DVDs from the library and she loves to fling them off the shelf for fun! We always have to go on a scavenger hunt each week before our trip to the library, because she will have strewn them about the house! Visitors are usually met by her toddling up to them at the front door while gnawing on the corner of a case!
Lisa! We should have a DVD case playdate with our little ones. Lol! 🙂
Hilarious!
That is simply adorable!
Thanks, Jennifer! I so appreciate your faithfulness to read the Fairy! xoxo
Julie, it’s the digital age and he’s ready.
that is so cool he is a very distinct person good for him!
Thanks for sharing your weird lovey story. We have a unique lovey as well. My youngest loves her pacifier and “hair”. By “hair” I mean one of those hair covered ponytail holders. Yes, we get a lot of weird looks when we are out and about. When she was a baby, she would not sleep unless she was holding my hair- sweet but not too sustainable. My Mom suggested I get her a fake hair ponytail holder. Skeptical, I bought one and she took to it like a charm. From that point on, she was rarely seen without her “hair”. I ran out to by more so that we would never be without one and when she could talk, she named them “one hair”, ” two hair” and “big hair”. She just turned 3 and we have only one left and it basically has one hair on it.
My little brother loved hair too! Except he carried around and ruined the wigs of several of my American Girl dolls :p
Danielle, this is by far the most original lovey I have ever heard! Totally made me smile!
Oh my…..that is so definitely weird but absolutely adorable and it blessed me to see all those cute pics of him with his ‘lovey’. I’m thinkin that maybe he’s going to be some sort of tecky kind of a guy…lol! Love your post {as usual}. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Sabrina, I would love for him to be a tech kind of guy – as I know almost nothing about technology and all the progress going on makes me want to hibernate! Thanks for stopping by!
OMG (Oh my gosh)! That is the absolute cutest story I have ever heard! Praise God he is unique…Great post!
Joyce, he is unique and wonderful, that’s for sure! xoxo
Julie… you made me laugh out loud on this one! Love it. That is pretty hilarious J. takes it everywhere… funny guy 😉 Thanks for sending this today… put a smile on my face!…xoxo… karen
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Karen, I’m so glad I could give you a giggle! 🙂 Thanks for always being so encouraging to me!
Pry one of those babies open and put a little book inside, Julie!
I love seeing him holding one & always love seeing which one he decided to carry around that day! Super cute & very fitting for our lil jet jet! 🙂 xo
M#1 has a blanket he takes everywhere (but leaves in the car) & M #2 has his little toddler pillow that he loves to carry around but could take it or leave it. I had a blanket that I rubbed to oblivion (took abt 20 yrs or so)!!! 🙂
Jenn. You are awesome.
My daughter was given two lovies as a gift when she was a baby. One was a brown cow and the other a white sheep. The easiest way for her to distinguish between them as a baby was by color… So they became known as “brown love” and “white love.” When she was 2 years old her daycare teacher (at the elementary school where I teach) asked her what three things she loves most in the world so she could post the answers on the class bulletin board. Of course my daughter said, “brown love!” So imagine the reactions from all the other teachers who read that my daughter loves brown love?!? In hindsight, we should have named him “cow love!”
Cheryl! Sooo funny. I loved this!
When I was two years old I broke my leg and my favorite doll (that went with me to the hospital) got a cast on her leg too. I still have that doll 🙂
My first son has a teddy bear that he sleeps with every night. He is seven, but he still can’t sleep without his bear. My middle son could care less about a lovey 🙂 For his first Christmas, I made my youngest son a minky blanket out of some cute material I found on clearance. It is definitely his lovey. It goes EVERYWHERE with him and heaven forbid we ever leave it in the car! He sticks the corners in his ears when he is tired. Today he was being quiet (NEVER good for a two year old) and I found him asleep on the floor wrapped in his blanket.
Loved reading all the different self-soothing friends kids have used and loved!
Courtney, I love that your doll had a matching cast! Too funny!
My 4 year old has an obsession with strings and cords. It all started on his second birthday when we purchased a giant stuffed snake at the zoo. He loved to drag it everywhere and wrap it in a circle around himself; totally adorable when he wrapped it around himself and new baby bro. Little did we know how his love would evolve. Now the snake is in the toy chest and every charger cord or string is referred to by the little guy as “mine.” He likes our iPhone ear buds and various cords that hook up electronics. I work at a thrift store and not too long ago brought home a little ten key pad that had a USB type cord attached to it for using with a computer. My husband was embarrassed as my son carried it around everywhere, and I mean everywhere. The night the cord broke off my son was in tears! The weight of the key pad had finally become too much for the cord. I taped it together best I could and all night explained to my son in the morning it would be in heaven. So that night after he fell asleep (he always slept with this thing!) I hid the keypad and cord in my bag for work; honestly it was really hard for me to throw it away because he loved it so much so I passed it along to the next organization that takes the items we can’t sell at our store. I just couldn’t throw his beloved in the trash 🙂
Jessica, that is hilarious! And I love your mother’s heart to pass it along instead of throw it out… So precious.
Very funny, but whatever works, right? My kids have normal loveys…….blankets. Thermal knit ones. However my daughter did have a strange name for her blanket, “Glah Glee”. Her own rendition of “Blankie” I guess. It’s funny to me cause I remember my younger brother calling his lovey, also a blanket, “ee” when he was little. Because my kids love their soft thermal blankets, they also love thermal knit shirts…….. we call them Blankie shirts 🙂
Dena, that is too cute!
His “E D” hahaha! I laughed so hard! That is so funny. Your kids are adorable.
Thanks, Kelly! I appreciate you leaving a comment!
So cute!! My 16 months old boy is obsess with is pyjama pants…
I have a boy who is now 7 years old and his lovey is me, to be more specific my hair. This still continues today and it is a very frustrating reality for me.
When he was a baby he always had his fingers wrapped around my hair to soothe himself to sleep while nursing. I remember he would cry for me countless times in the middle of the night to fall back to sleep, I believe it was when he was just 5 months old I was so sleep deprived with his need to soothe himself back to sleep that at 3 AM I chopped off my hair and tied it together with very small hair bands. This worked and I was so thrilled to have found a solution. I slept soundly for many nights, but slowly pieces of hair unraveled and this pony tail that I had made for him was unusable. Eventually, I came up with the idea for him to hold a rouge brush and this worked like magic. He carried a soft rouge brush EVERYWHERE and for years this was his lovey. BUT, he would lose or misplace them at times and find me to cuddle. I will never forget that one day he was watching TV and a cosmetics commercial came on and there he was watching a girl use a rouge brush against her cheek, and the look on his face was priceless and was like, “What is she doing with my pony?”
Fast forward to today, my son is now 7 and I am still his lovey. When he is tired he will touch my hair and even smell it.. just everything about my hair comforts him. And, I am unsure how to break him of this since it has gone on for so long.. And, to be honest this really was not an issue for many years, but in the last few years he seems very connected again with me being his lovey.. but, in the last three years I have separated from his father and I am sure this is the reason why. And it breaks my heart. So I have mixed feeling about it.. But how funny as I am writing this he has come to snuggle me good morning and has his fingers wrapped around my hair.